Lord John and the Hellfire Club

This title also appears as a novella in the collection “Lord John and the Hand of Devils.” New York Times best-selling author Diana Gabaldon, beloved for her immensely popular Outlander series, crafted this fast-paced tale of intrigue when asked to contribute to an anthology honoring the late, great Ellis Peters. Outlander supporting player Lord John Grey investigates the death of a red-haired man only to become mixed up in the affairs of Sir Francis Dashwood and his notorious Hellfire Club. And as Lord John digs further, his life becomes threatened.

The Custom of the Army: An Outlander Novella

London, 1759. After a high-society electric-eel party leads to a duel that ends badly, Lord John Grey feels the need to lie low for a while. Conveniently, before starting his new commission in His Majesty’s army, Lord John receives an urgent summons. An old friend from the military, Charlie Carruthers, is facing court-martial in Canada, and has called upon Lord John to serve as his character witness.

Grey voyages to the New World,a land rife with savages (many of them on his own side) and cleft by war.

Virgins: An Outlander Short

Mourning the death of his father and gravely injured at the hands of the English, Jamie Fraser finds himself running with a band of mercenaries in the French countryside, where he reconnects with his old friend, Ian Murray. Both are nursing wounds, both have good reason to stay out of Scotland, and both are still virgins despite several opportunities to remedy that deplorable situation with ladies of easy virtue.

Finding Fraser

I met Jamie Fraser when I was 19 years old. He was tall, redheaded, and, at our first meeting at least, a virgin. I fell in love hard, fast, and completely. He knew how to ride a horse, wield a sword, and stitch a wound. He was, in fact, the perfect man. That he was fictional hardly entered into it.

Humane Killer

A decidedly unusual pairing, half-breed sorceress Armecia and her constantly stoned sidekick, Sir Leonard of Savhael, join forces with a cowardly church vassal and a giantess posing as a nun. Their quest? To catch and kill Zeigfried, a fiery - if not too fearsome - dragon.

History, Homages and the Highlands: An Outlander Guide

With oodles of steamy romance, paranormal time travel, adventure, and much more, Outlander is sweeping the nation. From over a dozen volumes to its newest incarnation as a breathtaking Starz show, it continues to delight, even with subtle, clever changes. But what was life really like then - from kilts and bagpipes to selkies and the fair folk? Who was Bonnie Prince Charlie and why was his campaign so disastrous for the Highlanders?

Into the Wilderness: Wilderness Saga, Book 1

Weaving a vibrant tapestry of fact and fiction, Into the Wilderness sweeps us into another time and place...and into the heart of a forbidden, incandescent affair between a spinster Englishwoman and an American frontiersman. Here is an epic of romance and history that will captivate readers from the very first page.

An Offer from a Gentleman

Sophie Beckett never dreamed she'd be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton's famed masquerade ball - or that Prince Charming would be waiting there for her! Though the daughter of an earl, Sophie has been relegated to the role of servant by her disdainful stepmother. But now, spinning in the strong arms of the debonair and devastatingly handsome Benedict Bridgerton, she feels like royalty. Alas, she knows all enchantments must end when the clock strikes midnight.

Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787

Ross Poldark returns to Cornwall from war, looking forward to a joyful homecoming with his family and his beloved Elizabeth. But instead, he discovers that his father has died, his home is overrun by livestock and drunken servants, and Elizabeth, having believed Ross dead, is now engaged to his cousin. Ross must start over, building a completely new path for his life, one that takes him in exciting and unexpected directions....

The Broken Brooch

When a brooch is broken, some of its magic is lost. When NYPD detective JL O'Grady is invited to be her brother's plus-one at Montgomery Winery's end-of-harvest gala, she plans to enjoy a fabulous weekend in Napa drinking wine, enjoying sunset dinners on the veranda, and watching her brother's high school basketball tournament. Instead, she's pulled into a murder investigation hauntingly similar to a New York City racketeering and drug case that nearly ended her career.

The Mists of Avalon

A posthumous recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, Marion Zimmer Bradley reinvented - and rejuvenated - the King Arthur mythos with her extraordinary Mists of Avalon series. In this epic work, Bradley follows the arc of the timeless tale from the perspective of its previously marginalized female characters: Celtic priestess Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar, and High Priestess Viviane.

The Emerald Brooch: The Celtic Brooch Series, Book 4

West Point graduate Kenzie Wallis-Manning planned to make the Army her career, but after being severely wounded during her second deployment, and suffering from PTSD, she retires from the military and enrolls in law school. While studying in England, she receives a package containing an emerald brooch with a Gaelic inscription. As soon as she sounds out the words engraved on the stone, she is whisked back in time to May 28, 1944.

Scots, Sassenachs, and Spankings: Feminism and Gender Roles in Outlander

Claire delights as the fierce, prickly World War II nurse who falls for Jamie, the sensitive Highlands outlaw. He offers more than a fling or even a timeless love, as he guides the heroine to a deeper level of spirituality. Of course, Diana Gabaldon explores much about modern gender construction. Her heroines shoot pirates, while the Highlanders blend courtly gallantry with bloodthirsty battles.

The Shadowy Horses

Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea. Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he's finally found it - not because of any scientific evidence, but because a local boy has "seen" a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead comrades.

The Wine of Angels

A paradise parish of cobbled streets and timber-framed houses, and a huge, haunted vicarage were not what the Revd Merrily Watkins ever had in mind. Nor had she wanted to walk into a local dispute over a play about a curious 17th century cleric accused of witchcraft, a story that certain old-established families would rather remained in obscurity. But this is Ledwardine, steeped in cider and secrets.

Warleggan: A Novel of Cornwall, 1792-1793

When Ross Poldark plunges into a highly speculative mining venture, he risks not only his family's financial security but also his already turbulent marriage. When his old flame, Elizabeth Warleggan, reenters his life, Ross is tested like never before. But soon his wife, Demelza, retaliates, becoming dangerously involved with a handsome Scottish cavalry officer of her own.

What Angels Fear: Sebastian St. Cyr, Book 1

It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man - Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.

Publisher's Summary

Diana Gabaldon, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of the Outlander saga and a Quill Award winner, delivers a treat for her many fans - a collection of three novellas starring the ever-popular Lord John Grey.

In these tales, Lord John vows to avenge a murder, investigates a terrifying "night-hag" on the battlefields of Europe, and discovers treason in His Majesty's ranks.

What the Critics Say

"Gabaldon brings an effusive joy to her fiction." (Publishers Weekly)"Gabaldon's strengths are on full display....Deftly written, pleasantly concise stories about the ghosts of desire, each with its own discrete merits." (Kirkus Reviews)

John Grey, a seemingly minor character encountered by the main protagonists of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, becomes a central character on his own in a series of short stories and books. He is a soldier, a gentleman, a noble man (in the original sense of the word), a sodomite, and an altogether human hero - often dragged into the heart of 18th century intrigues during the time surrounding the 7 Years War (French and Indian War to the Americans) in the years between the Scottish Jacobite Rising of 1745 and the American Revolution in 1776.

Readers of this series might give the Outlander series a miss, but you will lose out on serveral interactions between John and the Frasers that give a richer view of the character. The Outlander novels are a whopping 40 hours each on average, where LJ reads range between 1 and 14 hours.

You should definitely not read the Lord John series out of sequence to itself, which is easy to do accidentally since chronologically it alternates between shortstories and full length novels. Hand of the Devils contains three of the four current short stories, and while they are in order in this collection, make references to events in Private Matter and Brotherhood which leave the reader wanting to know what the heck happened though it does not have an immediate impact on the story.

As of October 2010, the order to read Lord John in is:
Hellfire (Hand of Devils); Private Matter (novel); Succubus (Hand of Devils); Brotherhood of the Blade(novel); Haunted Soldier (Hand of Devils); Custom of the Army (Warriors, Anthology); Scottish Prisoner (novel not yet released).

Highly recommended as an appetizing complement to the Outlander series. These three stories fill in a wealth of details about Lord John Greys's life and character. I don't know how interesting I would find them as stand alone works, but they provide backstory for one of my favorite personalities in the Outlander series. Plus they contain lots of clues and context for the longer Lord John books.

As usual with Diana Gabaldon there is a wealth of historic detail and some sly humor, with the added twist of the mysteries to be solved. The style of the writing is quite different from that in the Outlander main series - like fine claret as opposed to scotch whiskey, perhaps? Both appeal to me.

That being said, the final story 'Hand of Devils' does feel like it could easily be twice as long and better for it; I wanted to know more about some of the characters who remained undeveloped. Still it does tie up some of the loose ends from Brotherhood of the Blade (and will make a lot more sense if you have read that book).

I find Jeff Woodman's nuanced reading delightful, he brings the varied cast of characters to life - particularly Grey and his loyal, long suffering valet Tom Byrd. I've listened to these more than once in the past year, and enjoyed picking up on things I missed the first time.

You should read all the other Lord John stories before this one or the frequent references will just confuse. Also note that the the first two stories ( Hellfire and the Succubus) are available also on audible so if you are a big Gabaldon fan you will only be getting this book for the third story.

I would recommend it because it is a reliably interesting Diana Gabaldon book, which means that the story pulls you in, the historical setting is so well-drawn you feel you are there, and the reader gains insight into what was happening to one of the lesser characters (Lord John) in the Outlander series between his appearances in the "Big Books."

Which character – as performed by Jeff Woodman – was your favorite?

Lord John is voiced so very well by Jeff Woodman that his voice is the one I will hear in my head when I read other Lord John episodes in the Outlander series as well as the Lord John novels and novellas.

If you could take any character from Lord John and the Hand of the Devils out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Of course it would have to be Lord John. These are his stories, and he has led a very interesting and adventurous life.

Any additional comments?

If you like Diana Gabaldon's books, you will like the Lord John stories. Just don't expect this book to be about the Fraser's. It is not.

While I had read that some people did not care for the narrator on these books, I like him a lot! I like learning more about Lord John's earlier years, and find him to be a very well rounded and real character. Enjoyed the book very much!

What does Jeff Woodman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Love the various voices he uses in developing the personality of the characters - it isn't the same as when I read them.

I have to put this read away. Maybe I'll continue it at a later date. Wow, my own fault for not listening to others' reviews. I couldn't believe that two book series could feel so different. I love the Outlander series and wanted to read more into the characters...even a spin off. However, I feel like I went from a big screen movie (Outlander) to a 'B' rated movie (Lord John). I don't know if it is the writing or the narrator's voice, but the feel and quality of the story is way off. And the mention of Jamie Frazer seems forced. John doesn't seem to have the same force of character, which seems strange coming from the same author. So, maybe it all has to do with the narrator. Sorry, save your credits.